What are Journal Entries in Accounting?

What are Journal Entries in Accounting?

In accounting careers, journal entries are by far one of the most important skills to master. Without proper journal entries, companies’ financial statements would be inaccurate and a complete mess.

An easy way to understand journal entries is to think of Isaac Newton’s third law of motion, which states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So, whenever a transaction occurs within a company, there must be at least 2 accounts being affected.

For example, if a company bought a car, the company’s assets would go up by the value of the car. However, there needs to be an additional account that changes (i.e., the equal and opposite reaction). The other account that is affected is the company’s cash going down because they used the cash to purchase the car.

Finally, just like how the size of the forces on the first object must equal that of the second object, so must the debits and credits of every journal entry must be equal.

How to Approach Journal Entries

A journal is the company’s official book in which all transactions are recorded in chronological order. Although many companies use accounting software nowadays to book journal entries, journals were the predominant method of booking entries in the past. In every journal entry that is recorded, the debits and credits must be equal to ensure that the accounting equation (A = L + SE) remains in balance. When doing journal entries we must always consider four factors:

Which accounts are affected by the transaction

For each account, determine if it is increased or decreased

For each account, determine by how much it changed

Make sure that the accounting equation stays in balance

The best way to master journal entries is through practice. Here are numerous examples that illustrate some common journal entries. The first example is a complete walkthrough of the process.